For everything there is a season

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For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven - Ecclesiastes 3:1

This is just a season, a very busy one at that for us. I believe there are times as a family, when a particular season is a little busier than 'normal'. The past three months have been that really busy season for our family. But I wouldn't trade any of the opportunities and experiences that each one of us have had over this period of time. I just keep reminding myself, that this is just a season.

How have we gotten through this season? Believe me, there have been a few times when I wanted to throw up my hands and say 'Enough!' God knew this would be a busy season for us, but He has provided times of rest when we needed it the most. And for that I am so thankful...

Thanks to the introduction from my friend Jill, I am linking up with Scripture and a Snapshot

Four Photos, Different Settings

One of my goals for this year is to work through a couple of photography books, continuing to educate myself on how to be a better photographer. Right now, I am reading through 'Understanding Exposure' by Bryan Peterson. The first section of the book covers 'Defining Exposure'. Since my freesia bulbs have started blooming, I took my camera out to the backyard and took these four photos:

ISO 100, 50mm, f/11, 1/100 sec

ISO 100, 50mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec

ISO 100, 50mm, f/4, 1/800 sec

ISO 100, 50mm, f/2, 1/3200 sec

I had my camera (Nikon D3100) set to manual mode so I could control the aperture and the shutter speed. You can see a big difference between the first photo and the last photo. 

In the first photo, you can see more details in the whole photo (including the weeds that are now growing with all of the rain that we have had!)

In the last photo, the center flowers are in focus and the surrounding area is blurred. This last photo would be a great one to add a Bible verse to along the top (hmm, just might have to do that!)

Do you typically shoot in manual mode? Which photo is visually appealing to you?

Tackle It on Tuesday: Understanding Exposure

Time for Tackle It on Tuesday! Last week, I shared that I was hoping to make it through the first chapter of 'Understanding Exposure' by Bryan Peterson.

Understanding Exposure Table of Contents

Between everyday rehearsals for the play, a full day conference on Saturday, and taking my daughter to two of her performances over the weekend, I only read the Introduction and the section on 'What Is Meant by Exposure'.

I made a little progress!

Even though I didn't read very far into the book yet, I did actually pick up my camera last week and try one of the assignments! I hope to share what I learned a little later on this week.

So for the upcoming week, my house has been poorly neglected over the past few weeks with our very busy schedule. I haven't taken the time to put things away when we get back home because there has been so many other things that need to get done. 

Clutter pile

Junk mail and paid bills that need to be organized

I think this stuff multiplies while we sleep!!

And more clutter piles

There was a lot going on around here over the last couple of weeks!! So now that our schedule is slowing down a little bit, I really need to take some time this week and clean up a little bit of the clutter. I know this won't take very long to clean up, probably just 15 to 20 minutes a day. I may even set the timer and put on some music while I clean up these clutter piles!

How do you tackle clutter in your home?

Compassion Connection

We are fortunate enough to attend a church where our pastor has allowed us to set up a Compassion table in our lobby.

Compassion display at our church

On the display table, I try to change things up at least once a month as I think of things that might be helpful for the sponsors at our church. We used to have monthly letter writing nights, but everyone seems to be so busy these days, so we are looking at holding more of a sponsor appreciation night twice a year instead.

In the meantime, I was wanting to create something to encourage sponsors to write to their sponsored children in between our get togethers. So here is what I came up with:

Compassion Connection

I put together this half page printable (which you are welcome to print for yourself and share!), printed them on colored paper, and put them on the display table yesterday at church. We had to leave early for my daughter's drama performance, so I not sure how they went over. I hope to put these together each month and share them here on my blog.

What do you do to encourage sponsors at your church to write to their sponsored children?

Tackle It on Tuesday: 1000 Piece Puzzle

Last week, the focus of my 'Tackle It on Tuesday' post was this:

1000 piece panoramic puzzle

If you recall from that post, we had just started two weeks of everyday rehearsals for the upcoming play my daughter will be performing in. Last week, three of the rehearsals were at night, which meant that we didn't really see my husband or my son for three days! 

The puzzle ended up being a fun way that we could work on a project together, even though we really didn't work on the puzzle 'together'. 

So, I know you are all just waiting to find out if we finished the puzzle...

Completed puzzle!

Yes, we did!! And it was a tough one! Which is why you see two magnifying glasses on the table (homeschool science kits do come in handy!) We all enjoyed working on the puzzle so much that we are actually thinking of finding another one to work on.

Now that that project is completed, what is going to be my next Tackle It on Tuesday project?

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson

Last year, I really enjoyed taking a photography class and working through the Capture Your 365 daily prompts. However, once we got to the holidays, then my Mexico trip, then our crazy schedule right now with the play, I just knew I would not be able to commit the time to take on a daily photography project. What I would like to do though, is take some time this year to work through a couple of photography books that I have on hand, and work through some online tutorials to help me improve my photography.

So for this next week, I am going to start out small and just read through the first chapter of this book, Understanding Exposure, by Bryan Peterson. It is one book that my photography teacher had recommended and I haven't made time to read through it before now. 

What are you hoping to tackle this upcoming week?